champions of uaap basketball

last september 25, 2008, the Ateneo Blue Eagles were crowned with the UAAP Season 71 Men's Basketball Championship. Congratulations to the team and to the community for the very successful season! Finally, the Championship has come back to Loyola!

in exception to the game against FEU, this season for the eagles has the word perfect written all over it. although the team didn't necessarily blow out all its opponents this year, ateneo won 16 out of the 17 games it played. what's more impressive is how they did it: playing defense and as a team. other than the championship itself, the team also received its affirmation through the league awards where 6 of them received at least one.

Rabeh Al-Hussaini - Most Valuable Player, Mythical 5 member, Jollibee Champ of the Year and Most Improved Player.

Chris Tiu - Mythical 5 member, PSBank Maasahan Player of the Year

Nonoy Baclao - Defensive Player of the Year, Finals MVP

Eric Salamat - KFC Court Colonel of the Year

Ryan Buenafe - All Rookie Team, Rookie of the Year

Nico Salva - All Rookie Team

all these players belonged to just ONE team. and what's amazing is that among these players, only Chris won't be playing next year. Rabeh still has room to improve and will be coming back next year. Nonoy became the cornerstone of the team's defense. his finals mvp award just vindicated the defensive mind-set of the team. Ryan Buenafe didn't play like a rookie all year. the scary thing is he still has 4 years to play. i saw this guy play back in ncaa, he was a monster. now that he has one uaap championship, he'll be gunning for four more.

most of the credit should go to Coach Norman Black. it may have took 4 years before he won this long overdue championship but the development of his program and the players definitely was worth the wait. he is definitely such a gem for the Ateneo community. how often do you see a 6 foot 5, American basketball coach hug his players like they were his children and tell them that he loves them? he definitely worked out his black magic and motivated the team well.

spoke to my prof (who happens to come from the Ateneo High School like me) the other day. i dont remember what he told me exactly but he sort of said that ateneans like us who enter UP still has the privilege to cheer for Ateneo. well that's quite true. and it's quite cool. because by heart, i am still part of the Ateneo community that's all out when it comes to cheering for my alma mater. sarap maging atenistang iskolar ng bayan. champion na nga sa cheerdance, champion pa sa basketball.

it doesn't end here. my true alma mater (the ateneo high school) bagged the UAAP Juniors Championship yesterday. wuhoo. congratulations blue eaglets!

ONE BIG FIGHT!